Thread: Hangman Game

Hi, i've been working on a hangman java game. I have a lot of it coded, but when I go to run it, Im getting stuck somewhere I believe on line 64. I put a print statement before line 64 and it is printing it, then the program doesnt do anything but it is still running. Can anyone tell me what I have wrong in my program? Thanks.

/*
 * Mat2670 Homework 4 EX 1
 * 
 * Connor Moore
 * 03/07/2013
 * 
 * File: Hangman.java
 * This program gets a random word from a file that is
 * at least 5 characters long and lets a user play a 
 * game of hangman. 
 */
package mat2670;
 
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
 
public class Hangman {
 
    private static final int LENGTH = 5;
    private static final int MAXGUESS = 6;
    private static final int NUMCHARS = 26;
 
    public static void main(String[] args) {
 
        Random rand = new Random();
        ArrayList<String> words = new ArrayList<String>();
 
 
 
        Scanner input = null;
        try {
            input = new Scanner(new File("/usr/share/dict/words"));
        } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
            System.err.print("File Not Found!");
        }
 
 
        while (input.hasNextLine()) {
            String curWord = input.nextLine();
 
            if (curWord.length() >= LENGTH) {
                for (int i = 0; i < curWord.length(); i++) {
                    words.add(i, curWord);
                }
                break;
            }
 
        }
 
 
        String gameWord = words.get(rand.nextInt(words.size()));
        char[] displayWord = gameWord.toCharArray();
        for (int k = 0; k < gameWord.length(); k++) {
            displayWord[k] = '_';
        }
 
        Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
        char[] correct = new char[NUMCHARS];
        char[] incorrect = new char[MAXGUESS];
        int y = 0;
 
        System.out.print("here"); //print for debugging purpose
 
        while (!Arrays.equals(gameWord.toCharArray(), displayWord)
                && y <= MAXGUESS) {
 
            String guess = console.nextLine();
            if (gameWord.contains(guess)) {
                int index = gameWord.indexOf(guess);
                for (int t = 0; t < gameWord.length(); t++) {
                    displayWord[index] = guess.charAt(0);
                }
            } else {
                incorrect[y] = guess.charAt(0);
                y++;
            }
            System.out.println(displayWord);
            System.out.println(correct);
            System.out.println(incorrect);
        }
 
 
    }
 
    public static void drawBase() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
 
    }
 
    public static void drawHead() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    public static void drawTorso() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        System.out.println("    !   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    public static void drawLeftA() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        System.out.println("   /|   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    public static void drawRightA() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        System.out.println("   /|\\   |");
        System.out.println("        |\n");
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    public static void drawLeftL() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        System.out.println("   /|\\   |");
        System.out.println("   /   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    public static void drawRightL() {
        echoString(" ", 4);
        echoString("-", 4);
        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("    |   |");
        System.out.println("    O   |");
        System.out.println("   /|\\   |");
        System.out.println("   / \\   |");
        echoString("        |\n", 1);
        System.out.println("     ------");
    }
 
    private static void echoString(String s, int times) {
        for (int i = 1; i <= times; i++) {
 
            System.out.print(s);
 
        }
    }
}

Ignore the ugly drawPieces methods I have, just typed them out in a hurry, but before changing and implementing them, i need my code working.

Originally Posted by connorlm3

... I have a lot of it coded, but ... the program doesnt do anything but it is still running....

Well, isn't it waiting for user input? (Why the heck didn't your program tell the user to enter something?)

Anyhow., in addition to letting the user know what is expected...

I think it's a Good Idea to make debug statements verbose enough to let you see what the program is seeing (and what it is doing) at places where there is an "issue."

.
.
.        
        // Statements for help in debugging
        //
        //System.out.print("here"); //print for debugging purpose<--- not very helpful is it?
        System.out.println("y = " + y + ", MAXGUESS = " + MAXGUESS);
        System.out.println("gameWord: " + gameWord + ", displayWord: " + Arrays.toString(displayWord));
 
 
        // Normal user-informative program output.
        //
        //
        //  Why not put something here that shows the number of characters in the word?
        //
        System.out.println("\nYou have " + MAXGUESS + " guesses.");
        System.out.print("\nWhat is your first guess? ");
 
        while (!Arrays.equals(gameWord.toCharArray(), displayWord)
                && y <= MAXGUESS) {
.
.
.

The beginning of a run could look like:

y = 0, MAXGUESS = 6
gameWord: 10-point, displayWord: [_, _, _, _, _, _, _, _]
 
The word: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
 
You have 6 guesses.
 
What is your first guess? p
.
.
.

Cheers!

Z